Computers and the Internet have transformed the golf course management business in many ways. Computers are now routinely deployed in management operations at virtually all golf courses in the United States for course management and for back office functions like accounting and inventory control. Computerized tee sheet management systems first appeared in the 1970s and enabled golf courses to automate their core tee time booking functions, though some courses still employ paper-and-pencil “tee sheets.” Unfortunately, deploying customized computerized systems has created as many problems for some courses as it has solved.
With the commercial development of the Internet, web-based tee sheet management systems have been introduced and have been adopted by many courses. The advantage of many web-based tee sheet management systems is that they require only that a standard web browser be installed at the course (in contrast to the custom software installation required to deploy first-generation on-site systems). Any golf course with dial-up access to the web is able to manage its tee sheet online and to offer tee times to the golfing public online.
Many courses have been disappointed by the lack of golfer adoption of their online tee time systems. These single-course web-based systems suffer from a lack of the extensive marketing and brand-building that is required to drive golfing customers to their online tee time solutions. “Build it and they will come” has proven to be an empty promise for many courses.
Online tee time “hubs” such as the LMTT hub at www.lmtt.com have emerged to solve the problem of customer traffic generation experienced by standalone golf course tee time web sites. Hubs such as LMTT offer available tee times from multiple courses so that golfers can view, select and reserve tee times from multiple courses at a single destination web site. Courses benefit because the customer traffic to hubs such as LMTT is far greater than the traffic that they can attract to their own standalone sites.
Hubs such as LMTT add particular value to courses and golfers offering and seeking (respectively) “last minute” tee times. Like airline seats, unfilled tee times represent almost 100% marginal revenue loss to courses. And golfers are often frustrated when they attempt to make last-minute or next-day tee times after the golf course pro shop has closed for the evening. The hub business model thus offers considerable value to courses and golfers alike.
In order to take advantage of the benefits of hubs like LMTT, however, courses must be able to update their next-day and last-minute tee time offerings to the hub very frequently (at least once per day). Unfortunately, known hub systems require frequent phone calls and/or exchanges of faxes at the end of each golfing day in order to keep the hub's offering of the course's next-day tee time inventory fresh. Known approaches to hub updating also impose a considerable burden on the hub itself, which must deal with tens or even hundreds of courses each day.
In summary, conventional systems and methods for updating tee time reservations hubs by multiple courses impose considerable time and expense burdens on the courses and the hubs.